Eternal Illumination
by Hollowsoul75
Summary: "The origin of the Grimm. No one knows this, no one discovered this, no one has even come close. Yet…the truth can come in many ways. Are you ready, for what you may lose on this path?" Now, we know the origin of the Grimm race. All that is left to know is, can we fight what awaits those that know the truth?
1. Beginning of the End

**Hello everyone, Hollowsoul75 here with another fic to try and get rid of my major writer's block.**

 **And yes, the block is MASSIVE (…if you don't get it, don worry, inside joke), I mean, I can't even sit down for five minutes to work on one of my fics (even though I'm so close with the next chapter of 'Inter-dimensional Lich') and it's killing me!**

 **Breathe in…**

 **Breathe out…**

 **Anyway, the main OC I am using in this is being lent to someone who has asked for my help. The author's name is JESTER551 and he/she will be writing a RWBY fic with their own OCs and my one. I won't give any more information away about it, so don't ask me.**

 **Okay, now I wanted to upload this sooner, but apparently fanfiction was being a bit of an ass (no offense admins) and wouldn't let anyone fav/follow/upload on it. Which was really annoying as I wasn't able to really do anything, other than read stories I really wanted to favourite cause they deserved a fav.**

 ***Ahem***

 **Anyway, this fic will most likely take a while for me to update (Cause now I've got six fics to update and maintain…I'm not complaining, cause some authors have over a HUNDRED stories under their belt.)…**

 **…**

 **What else can I say…?**

 **Ah.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY, or League of Legends.**

 **Begin:**

 **Chapter One: The fall of Vacuo.**

"This…is not how I planned out my day…at _all_." A young adult, around seventeen years of age, mumbled seeing the odd, and chilling, sight in front of him. The young man had somewhat curly brown hair going down to his chin, pure sea blue eyes, and a slightly rounded face. He wore a red and white hooded jacket, the sleeves, hood, and the pockets being the only things red. For pants he wore long black track pants with two white lines down either side, and to top his apparel off, a pair of black lace up shoes with a zipper down the outer sides, for when their owner is too lazy to undo the laces. He held an odd looking weapon in his hands, being mainly gold in color with some red here and there, and looking like a smaller and modified version of an anti-tank rifle, the model of which being the Lahti L-39 with recoiled pads that folded onto the right side of the weapon, and the ammunition magazine was moved to the left side of the weapon to make room for the complicated looking scope and the entire thing was smaller and made of light, yet _very_ durable, material for the young adult to carry without any trouble. The most unusual thing about the weapon was the barrel…the fact that instead of a regular gun muzzle there was a long cone spear head with several small holes lining the sides, glowing now and then with red energy waiting to be released upon their master's pulling of the trigger. This was the 'Metatron', a spear/anti-'almost anything' weapon built by the young adult when he was only seven years old…well, he built the prototype then and finished the complete version when he was fourteen.

The young man's name was Nathaniel Soul, a fully-fledged member of Vacuo's 'Steel Legion'; their main police force consisting of retired hunters and huntresses around twenty or thirty years old, feeling as though their prowess would be better suited to protecting the lives of their home from anyone inside their home instead of training the next generation of those who, and to quote 'wanted nothing more than glory for their name', and waste their lives trying to play hero. Most of those who did go outside the walls never came back.

This was because Vacuo was seated in the centre of a desert (Roll with me on this) surrounded by types of Grimm that liked to bury beneath the sand and strike out when someone walked to close, said someone being quickly dragged under the sand and killed. Nathaniel never saw a point in going out there; there was nothing for him or anyone else in his home. The idiots that went out there just wanted to hunt Grimm and take names…the deceased fools.

"Well…we're fucked, aren't we?" The rhetorical question snapped Nathaniel out of his musing to look at the fully sand brown cloaked man next to him, his mentor and brother in all but blood. He once had a name, but after everyone in his group got killed when they went outside the walls…he cast it aside and took up the moniker 'Hollow', saying it was self-punishment for what he had done. No one actually ever asked what he had done though, and Hollow liked it that way "Oh, well what makes you say that?" Nathaniel responded with a sarcastic question of his own, not even looking at his mentor as he prepared Metatron by laying it down on the edge of the wall and looked through the scope, watching as the large dust cloud came closer and closer.

"That ain't no ordinary sandstorm…" Nathaniel commented seeing a flash of multiple red eyes hidden in the cloud. Hollow nodded and spoke into a handheld radio that was pulled out from under his cloak "Hey, boss…We're gonna need a few more rifles this side…Boss?" The only thing that was heard was static from the other end "Must be broken…eff it, this is the third time this week that this has fucked up." And with that, Hollow tossed the radio over the side of the wall just as a reply came through "Could you repeat that, over?" Both men tilted their heads following the item as it descended towards the sandy dunes down below. Nathaniel looked dryly at his mentor "You idiot."

"…Whoops?"

The two immediately looked towards the cloud hearing a loud roar, to find the cloud had somehow picked up speed and was right on top of them "Oh fu-" Nathaniel was cut off by himself as he pulled up his hood and covered his mouth with a face mask hidden under the collar of his jacket. The cloud of sand howled past the two, cutting visual from both, as growls and clicks sounded out around them on the wall "The…Hell?" A quick yell of pain from Hollow got Nathaniel's attention and he slung Metatron on his shoulder as he rushed to where his mentor once stood, only to find a pair of single lens desert goggles, seen multiple times on Hollow's shadowed face, or whenever he had his hood down.

The clicking and growling grew louder and louder further along the wall making Nathaniel yell out as he put on the goggles to keep them safe "Hollow, that you!?" As he walked towards the noise, he didn't notice the small pile of sand stained red from which he pulled the goggles out of.

(Line Break)

Nathaniel hissed as he kept walking along the wall, trying to find his mentor while the sand stung at the unprotected parts of his body. He kept cursing and cursing in his mind as he stumbled over piles of sand and discarded weapons from apparent 'deserters'. The further he went along the wall, the louder the clicking and growling grew, even though it jumped further away at times "STOP RUNNING DAMMIT!" Nathaniel let out a muffled yell as he was tired of just feeling like he was running in circles. He took another step onto a sizable mound of sand and his foot sunk inside it making a loud 'Crunch!' sound out.

Nathaniel froze as he slowly looked down to where his foot was, even though his sight was somewhat hindered by the sandstorm and the goggles he could still make out a weapon laying nearby and the sand around his foot red with blood "N…No." He removed his foot and looked into the hole that was slowly filling up with sand to confirm his fears "O-oh Oum, have mercy…" He stumbled back and fell on his ass as something moved inside the sandstorm in front of where he once stood "What the fuck!"

Nathaniel wiped his goggled eyes and looked at the figure in front of him. It was an eight foot monstrosity, having an aquatic insect-like appearance with scythe-like blades on four separate arms. Its body was covered in a black and white exoskeleton, the white being on its arms and mask-like face. A large amount of tentacles ending in spikes weaved around, vibrating as they let out low rumbles for echo-location, this Grimm's method of sight. Nathaniel didn't bother to take note of any more of its features as he had quickly gotten up, secured Metatron to his back, and his body turned into a figure made entirely of bright light before zooming away and off the city wall, heading for the city while leaving being a slight trail of light.

'DAMMIT DAMMIT DAMMIIIIIT!' Nathaniel mentally roared while he panicked as he used his semblance, Eternal Illumination, to flee from one of the most deadly Grimm species inhabiting the deserts of Vacuo 'Why the hell is a Dune Leviathan here?' A few screams knocked him out of any more thoughts and made him land in the middle of a street, seeing several people wander through the sandstorm only to be cut down and eaten by several more Dune Leviathans "Shit!" Before the Grimm could locate him, Nathaniel used his semblance again and vanished quickly over a three story building to his left.

As he peeked over the edge, he mumbled to himself under his breath "I did not sign up for this shit, these things are supposed to be nocturnal and docile unless provoked…so why the _fucking fuck_ are they attacking?" Silence answered him as a low clicking and rumbling echoed out behind him making his entire being stiffen with animalistic fear "…Shit." Nathaniel used his semblance again but stayed still as the Dune Leviathan's scythe-like limb passed through his body of light harmlessly, the only thing it achieved was briefly separating the figure of light in two before it reformed. When Nathaniel turned back to flesh and bone, he already had Metatron's 'anti-everything' form levelled at the Grimm's head while he looked down the sights "Boom, headshot."

He pulled the trigger making a cone of red dust explode out of the weapon and blasted clean through the Grimm in a burst of fire and aura, some of the area around the hole was lined by glass from the sand that had clung to its body. The Grimm flew back from the force of the shot of explosive dust slowly as Nathaniel spat on its corpse "That's it, you're dead." He quoted one of his mentor's favourite phrases and noted the sandstorm dying down. The thought of his mentor's probable fate put a sour frown on Nathaniel's face as he watched the Grimm's body fade away into particles of light that brought a sense of nostalgia to him.

*Flashback begin*

 _"Hey, sis-"_

*Flashback end*

No. He didn't have time for that. Nathaniel shook his head clear of any and all memories that were brought up and went over to the edge of the building, hearing the last screams of a few remaining survivors die out. He looked forward blankly as he fell to his knees, reaching out with his aura in a small area finding nothing but death "Vacuo…has fallen."

…

A horrible silence greeted his words followed by clicking and growling.

Without another word, Nathaniel activated his semblance and left the now empty city of Vacuo.

If he'd stayed, he would've seen the group of Hunters and huntresses in the distance rescuing people and killing Grimm left and right, one of which was a young girl wielding a large sniper rifle/scythe hybrid who gazed at the light created from his semblance with a titled head.

(Line Break)

It had been several days since Nathaniel had abandoned the 'ruins' of Vacuo and he was starting to run out of water. He had found his mentor's body some time ago far away from his home, assuming that the Grimm that had killed him took his body to eat it without having to fight over it. After giving Hollow a proper burial…as proper as one could with shifting sands, he had taken his mentor's dust colored cloak as another means of remembrance aside from his goggles. Nathaniel trekked over another large dune of sand with Metatron ready to shoot at anything that came at him. He'd already killed several Dune leviathans killing each other over a corpse; such was another irregularity in their recorded behaviour.

As Nathaniel looked at the endless sands in front of him from the top of the dune he just conquered, he took a sip of his large flask while keeping track of the familiar sound of clicking that had been following him for a while now. Nathaniel looked out of the corner of his goggles watching as some sand moved from something pushing it up as said something burrowed underneath. The Dune Leviathan that was trying to be sneaky suddenly found itself with several large holes blasted out of its hide while Nathaniel rolled his eyes at the pathetic attempt on his life.

Looking away from the fading Grimm, Nathaniel spied something tall in the distance. Wiping his goggles and cupping his hands around his eyes he could barely see some structure of some kind amongst the dunes. He grunted before looking up at the sun's position and decided it was time to take a break from his little 'hike'…trying to get some humour in to cheer himself up from what had been on his mind, but in the end he inevitably failed to take his mind off the subject.

"Even now…I can still hear their screams."

With a sad huff, he started walking once more, this time in the direction of the structure he had seen in the distance.

(Line Break)

When Nathaniel reached the structure he took in its appearance. It was a large half-buried doorway reminiscent of an ancient tomb. Beyond the edge of the entrance a foreboding darkness awaited any and all who entered. Gulping down the rest of his water supply, Nathaniel marched onwards with a mumble of "Better be some sort of spring in here…"

As he descended down into the dark abyss, Nathaniel started glowing brightly making him sigh as he pulled down his face mask and pushed his goggles up to his forehead. A side effect of his semblance was that he glowed slightly in the dark; it sucked for him because he had to cover himself up completely in several layers whenever he wanted to snipe at night…it gets really hot in the desert, especially when you have over three thick and heavy layers over you.

Several clicks rebounded off the narrow corridor making Nathaniel ready Metatron's spear form, its anti-everything mode might bring down the roof on him. Looking down, he saw a baby Deathstalker no bigger that his foot, and with a grunt he impaled it. Its dying screeches echoed around the corridor down into the darkness which wasn't illuminated by Nathaniel's 'after-glow'. That thought depressed him because it was one of Hollow's favourite taunts when the two sparred against one another.

The clicking of a _lot_ of something came towards him from the darkness. Nathaniel strained his eyes to see in the darkness in front of him and saw a _lot_ of red eyes. In that instant, Nathaniel performed a wise move and used his semblance to rush straight through and past the swarm of Deathstalkers of various sizes. The sheer amount of them completely covered the walls, floor, and roof so that all one could see was the armoured hide of the Grimm. Nathaniel kept running even as the Deathstalkers tried to sting him and grab him with their pincers, however none could touch him as, and to quote himself after winning a spar against his late mentor; 'One does not simply touch the light'.

After getting away from the horde of Deathstalkers, Nathaniel deactivated his semblance and stepped into a large underground chasm-like room. Large mounds of sand covered the ground and some of the half-broken sand coloured pillars lying about. The only light source was from holes in the ceiling that let in rays of light here and there. A large construct caught Nathaniel's eye and he walked over to it slowly.

It was a large crumbling gate with odd symbols lining every inch of it. As Nathaniel drew closer, he didn't notice a large mound of sand he just walked over quiver and rise. He was so focused on the gate that he ignored everything around him, only registering the black stone it was carved from and the purple glow that emanated through the cracks and from the symbols on it.

A loud screech and something painfully smacking him into the gate snapped him out of his trance. Nathaniel got up and looked over his shoulder at the Motherbrood Deathstalker that chittered angrily at him as it shook off any sand that was left on it. He scowled at it before his expression morphed into one of worry as the Grimm screeched loudly, calling for her brood that were guarding the hallway to her nest. Without a second thought Nathaniel switched Metatron to rifle mode and collapsed the hallway with a well-placed shot of aura, opting to save whatever dust he had left for the Ancient Grimm in front of him.

The Motherbrood Deathstalker screeched at being separated from her spawn before turning on the source of her ire. Nathaniel grinned as a morbid sense of content washed over him, already accepting the fact that he might not survive this encounter. As he readied Metatron's rifle form, aiming for one of the Motherbrood Deathstalker's multiple eyes, he sighed. Thinking of what he would never be able to do if he dies.

"Goodbye future, hello possible mutilation."

The moment those words left his lips, the Deathstalker charged at him ignoring the shots of dust infused aura blasts that took out three of its eyes. When it was close enough Nathaniel ran at it and skidded over the sand underneath the Grimm, shooting its unprotected underbelly as he went. The Deathstalker screeched loudly in pain as its guts and large amounts of blood went spewing out of the large holes made from Metatron's destructive blasts before it fell down, dead.

…

"That…was anti-climactic." Nathaniel deadpanned as he walked over and kicked the dead Grimm in one of its still twitching legs while the rest of it faded away into particles of light. Nathaniel sighed before going to make his way out of the room towards the corridor before remembering that he had collapsed said corridor, and his only way out of here "Aw, shit."

As Nathaniel was cursing himself in his mind, the black stone gate gave off a slight hum as a black ink-like substance poured slowly out of one of the larger cracks in the gate and started bubbling as it touched the sandy ground. The bubbling caught Nathaniel's attention and he turned to see a Dune Leviathan crawl out from a bubbling puddle of ooze, which disappeared as it formed the rest of the Grimm's body.

"What the hell?"

The Dune Leviathan let out a click-like growl before it found its head blown off from the rest of its body. Nathaniel raised a brow at the fact that this gate just spawned a Grimm before his eyes narrowed.

If this gate was the source of the Grimm, then…it must be _destroyed_.

Almost as soon as that thought crossed Nathaniel's mind, Metatron was already aimed at the center of the gate, the chamber underneath the spear head 'barrel' glowed with a bale red light, the dust inside ready to cause destruction of the highest scale.

"See you in hell you bastards."

He pulled the trigger.

"For Vacuo."

( **END** )

 **So, how was this? I mean, did I do good or what? Was there something I could've done better, or something I could've replaced? I'd like to know please. Okay, Explanation time:**

 **Vacuo: I know we all don't have much information on this subject, so, I thought that I might as well use something no one else has done before. I made it a desert, yes, even though in canon it might not be, but this is my fic and I don't know what canon Vacuo looks like, so I improvised.**

 **Dune Leviathans: An OC Grimm that may show up again, no promises though. I made these as something that would be native to the 'sands of Vacuo', much like how the Beowulfs, Ursas, and creeps live in forested areas. The reason that Deathstalkers weren't mentioned just now is the fact that they are scorpion-like, and should already inhabit desert-like terrain.**

 **The 'Gate': This popped into my head when I thought about how my OC was going to get to Valoran. The term 'Void Gate' just rolled off my tongue when I tried it and stuck with it. If you want a close comparison (this is off the top of my head as it didn't have a comparison until I wrote this line) think the Hell Gates from DMC 4, but use the description I made in this. I don't own DMC. That is just a comparison.**

 **Naming: Nathaniel means 'Gift of God' and Metatron 'the voice of God'. I thought I would use the name 'Metatron' for irony and the fact that anti-tank rifles make a** ** _lot_** **of noise when fired. Yes, I have used a Christian name (If you think it's my real name, I'm not going to tell the truth :3). I also used the Name Hollow as a sort of reference to my username HOLLOWsoul75 (the 'soul' bit is my OCs last name).**

 **…**

 **I can't think of anything else that needs to be explained…hmm. Meh.**

 **That's all I guess.**

 **Remember to fav/follow and to leave a review (I don't care if it is a guest review, I accept them all)**

 **Hollowsoul75, out.**


	2. Infinity and Beyond wait wut?

**Hello, and apologies dear readers.**

 **Hollowsoul75 here with a very late chapter on my part.**

 **So, I have no real excuse to be honest, I just never got around to writing this seriously until now (2k words added in 6 minutes, dat muse burst tho).**

 **Anywho, thank you all for the follows/favourites /reviews on this fic.**

 **And now, I shall reply to reviews.**

 **Castor115: Thank you for your kind words, I hope you keep enjoying this fic.**

 **NekoLazy: Yep, another story has arrived (but don't worry, my other fics are coming along nicely, although I'm planning a little something something for Halloween), and I will continue this, don't worry (even though you probably aren't).**

 ***EDIT* (What I'm planning has nothing to do with fanfiction, sorry if it seemed like that.)**

 **Now, Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY, League of Legends, or anything else used or referenced in this fic except for the OCs. League of Legends belongs to Riot and RWBY belongs to Roosterteeth.**

 **AND…BEGIN: Chapter Two: Infinity and Beyond…wait wut?**

"For Vacuo."

*Click*

…*Twitch*

*Clickclick*

…*Twitch twitch*

*CLICKCLICKCLICKCLICKCLICK!*

"Oh, COME ON!" Nathaniel looked down at the weapon in his hands as he repeatedly got the tell-tale sound of an empty magazine from Metatron. He ejected the magazine and looked inside to find it was indeed depleted of his custom made ammo, his weapon had no exit muzzle so he made bullets using a rare, but plentiful in the desert if you knew where to look, metal that dissolved on contact with aura, giving the aura its properties of a solid projectile. He could just fire raw aura, but it wouldn't have the same kick to it, ya know?

Looking inside the empty magazine again he found the words 'you're fucked, kid' printed in red on the inside as a joke from some of the other Steel Legion members.

"Just my luck…" Nathaniel pocketed the empty magazine with an annoyed growl before flipping a switch on the underside of his gun, making the dust compartments underneath the cone barrel shift and change to a specific setting.

"Pure aura fused dust shots…without a 'bullet' for a medium…" Nathaniel mumbled to himself as he lined up Metatron's cone-barrel once again at the 'gate' in front of him "This…probably won't explode." He quickly flinched away as he pulled the trigger and he felt the pull on his aura, indicating the shot did indeed fire. The resulting blast of bolt shaped dust quickly made its way on a warpath straight at the 'gate'. A full second after it made contact, it engulfed the entire structure in a tornado of fire and aura, making Nathaniel stare dumbfounded to and fro from the tornado to his weapon "That's new…"

Nathaniel had to start taking steps back as the tornado increased in intensity and heat, turning much of the sand dunes into pure glass in a matter of seconds. The twister of fire showed no signs of dying out so Nathaniel did the only thing he could think of at the moment…

Run.

"Oh shit!" Nathaniel quickly turned tail and ran away from the now Goliath Grimm sized twister. He jumped over and ducked behind a fallen pillar before peeking over it, watching as bits of purple lightning ran along the twister now and then, originating from the 'gate' in its center. Just as it seemed the twister was going to continue to grow until it consumed everything in the chasm room, it stopped. It just…stopped. Vanished. Kah-put. Asta la vista, twister.

While the twister had disappeared, the 'gate' didn't. In fact, it seemed to be glowing with energy, or that could just be whatever it's made of got super-heated from the un-expected tornado and was just glowing with heat.

Nathaniel slowly got out from behind his improve cover and walked towards the 'gate'. Sand turned glass crunched and cracked under his boots as Nathaniel looked all over the 'gate' to see if he did any damage.

To his disappointment on the waste of whatever dust he had left in his weapon, it didn't do squat to it. Not even a single scorch mark was dealt to the construct. The only thing he had managed to do was get it to glow brighter, if that meant anything at all.

"Dammit…" Nathaniel started shaking in place with his hands at his side and tears slowly going down his cheeks. He suddenly switched Metatron into its spear form and started stabbing and slashing with the sharp point as he cursed and cursed "Dammit…dammit…DAMMIT DAMMIT DAMMIT!"

Memory after memory passed through his mind as he vented every little thing on the construct before him. *Stab, slash* His mentor taking him in after he disowned himself from his family. *Slash, slash, stab into an upward slash followed by a downward one* The entire Steel Legion looking after him and treating him like family. *Activating semblance and darting around, reforming when stabbing or slashing* His mentor smiling down on him as he patted his head, congratulating him on becoming a fully fledge member of Vacuo's Steel Legion.

Nathaniel had discarded his weapon and started punching the source of his anger. He ignored the blood that pooled out of his fists and the burning from the hot surface, which was now starting to make the shed blood bubble and boil, as he vented out his rage and grief.

Nathaniel lost track of time as his punches started to slow down until the only thing he was doing was holding his right fist against the now cooled material of the 'gate'.

"Dammit…" Nathaniel whispered as he failed to notice the blood he had shed be absorbed by the 'gate'. A low 'thrum' sounded out from behind the gate, making Nathaniel look up into a glowing symbols and cracks, seeing the shadowy silhouette of something moving on the other side.

"What the hell?"

He took a step back when something smashed against the gate from the other side. Another smash, one more step. Another smash, two more steps. It wasn't until whatever it was on the other side started crashing against the 'gate' enough to make the doors push open slightly that Nathaniel ran back behind the pillar he used as cover from the earlier dust tornado.

After checking that he had enough dust for three more aura bullets, Nathaniel watched with baited breath as something grabbed the side of the gate's door and pushed it open. He covered his mouth when a tall monstrosity walked out covered in purple and red chitin-like plating.

It had four arms, two bore pincers while the other two had curved blades on them. Its mouth…dear god, no living thing could have _so many teeth_. On the sides of its mouth there were two mandible-like objects, probably there to help it… _eat_. It looked around the area before finding something interesting to it nearby. Nathaniel watched it closely before looking at the now open gate which it came through. A wasteland with dead grey cracked ground and purple misty skies could be seen along with more gates, which were apparently arranged in a circle.

Nathaniel glanced at the area beyond the gate, and back to the monster before making his choice. He moved around the pillar and quietly moved from cover to cover towards the open gate as the monster started digging for something. Just as he reached a few meters away from his escape, a shrieking caught his attention. Looking back it seemed that it was a false alarm; the monster had only found a reasonably sized Deathstalker, probably no bigger than he was.

With an "Omm nom nom!" sound, the monster ate the Deathstalker whole, making Nathaniel gulp seeing as that could've been him if he was caught. Deciding to make a run for it, Nathaniel sprinted towards the dead wasteland on the other side, gaining the attention of the monster which heard the sand turned glass cracking beneath Nathaniel's feet.

With a roar that became a visible shock-wave, it ran after him. Nathaniel had ran through the gate just before the ground on the other side ruptured as the monster had stomped the ground. Quickly looking around, he saw three other gates were open.

Nathaniel quickly activated his semblance and dashed to the one north west of him. Looking back again he saw the monster rushing as fast as it could through the gate, roaring another shock-wave that didn't even come close to touching him.

Nathaniel looked at the gate in front of him, seeing that other the other side was the inside of some sort of abandoned temple, grey stone walls and rubble covered in moss.

Without another thought he ran through it and quickly looked about, finding an exit with a bright light shining through it. Feeling himself low on aura, Nathaniel decided to just run and save whatever he had left for his semblance when needed.

Halfway to the exit, the monster showed up again, stomping the ground making the floor underneath Nathaniel launch him into the air for a full second. The monster let out a horrible sounding laugh as it closed in on him, only to let out a confused noise when Nathaniel chuckled like he had won.

Which for what he had planned, he did.

Nathaniel aimed for the roof of the temple, firing off a shot of aura and dust. Like what happened in the chasm-like room, a tornado of fire formed and descended on the two.

With a one fingered salute, Nathaniel activated his semblance and dashed out the exit as quick as he could as rubble and fire cut the monster off from following. The only thing that did follow him was the monster's roars of anger.

(Outside)

Nathaniel reformed back into flesh and blood and tumbled along the ground, not having enough energy to stay up on his feet and just collapsed. Looking back, he watched as more and more of the roof collapsed, sealing off the exit and ensuring that whatever that monster was, it wouldn't be getting him today.

He lay on his back and he started chuckling tiredly, soon growing louder and louder as he continued until it turned into full blown laughing. After a good few minutes of laughing and holding his sides in pain, Nathaniel got up while coughing into his hand to smother a snicker that tried to come up. He glanced over his shoulder back at the collapsed temple before taking note of the thick forest surrounding him "Did I end up in Vale or something?" The sounds of crickets and singing birds answered him "Guess not."

Nathaniel stayed outside the temple for a few more minutes to let his aura replenish before heading out into the jungle. He had Metatron in its spear mode in case he found something…or something found him. He found several very large tracks crossing his path and decided to not head in that direction and continued on his way, even more cautious in case whatever made those tracks turned around and headed towards him.

"Gnar!"

At the sudden cry, Nathaniel spun on his heels while turning Metatron into its rifle form and aiming at…nothing. He spun around again in case whatever it was ran behind him and still found nothing. A tug on his pants leg and another "Gnar!" caused him to spin again and aim downwards before blinking owlishly at the little orange fuzzball that went up to his knee.

"And who might you be, little fuzzball?" Nathaniel shifted Metatron back into spear form as he knelt down to get a closer look at whatever this creature was. Looking at it, it was obviously not a Grimm, orange fur and the helmet was just that, a helmet not a mask.

It had brown eyes and long ears tipped blue along with its tail. It wore a loincloth around its waist the same color as the tuff of brown fur on its chest and a bone helmet/hat made from the skull of some bird. In its hand was a boomerang made for the side of a beast's jaw, probably its choice of weapon "Gnar!"

"Is that all you can say?"

"…Shugi shugi shugi~"

Nathaniel deadpanned at it before sighing "I'm just gonna call you Gnar." The little fuzzball, Gnar, seemed happy at that and then started trying to drag Nathaniel by his pants leg to somewhere "You want me to follow you?"

Gnar started nodding rapidly while letting out some unintelligible words and pointing in a direction before letting go and bounding away, stopping to make sure Nathaniel was following. It let out a happy cry of triumph when Nathaniel started to follow it. It sure moved fast for a little guy, the fact that the moment that Nathaniel reached where it was moments before and it was now a good few metres away proved that.

"Wait up, Gnar!"

Gnar yelled at him what sounded like a taunt getting a grin from Nathaniel. He was honestly having fun parkouring through the jungle after the little ball of fluff. It was something that was much needed to help him take his mind off…past events. Shaking his head clear of those thoughts, Nathaniel activated his semblance and rushing upwards into the treeline. He reformed behind Gnar who looked back confused seeing Nathaniel missing. When Gnar turned around hearing a cough, he jumped backwards and fell on his backside in fright before chattering happily.

Nathaniel smiled before picking Gnar up and placing him on his shoulder. Gnar looked around amazed at the new point of view before pointing north while tugging on Nathaniel's hair lightly "That way it is then."

After walking a few miles, Gnar jumped off Nathaniel's shoulder before waddling over to a bunch of vines and large leaves arranged almost like a wall of sorts. Gnar pulled the foliage aside showing a cave entrance and walked inside, after motioning for Nathaniel to follow. Upon entering, Nathaniel started to give of a glow, causing him to sigh. Gnar was ignorant of Nathaniel's dislike for the side effect of his Semblance, and merely chattered and growled curiously before continuing to lead Nathaniel deeper into the cave. When they stopped Nathaniel looked around seeing with what little light he gave off, he took note of the small fire pit and a pile of leaves and straw arranged into makeshift bedding.

"This is your home, isn't it?" Gnar nodded before sniffing the air, his ears straightened up in alarm and moving around like radar dishes. Nathaniel's eyebrow raised in confusion until he noticed he was glowing brighter, causing him to turn to the rather far away entrance to see it was getting darker outside.

"Don't like the dark that much, huh?" Gnar didn't react to Nathaniel's question and just started pilling blocks of wood and some straw that was lying around into the fire pit, trying to quickly make a fire, no doubt. Nathaniel watched as Gnar started to scratch to rocks on one another to try and make a spark to light the fire.

"Here, let me help." Nathaniel owed this much, as Gnar had kindly given him a safe place to rest until daybreak. He moved over as he took Metatron off his shoulders, switching it into spear mode and removing the dust container. Upon seeing that there was barely any left, Nathaniel sighed before opening the container and pouring what was left over the wood and straw.

Gnar had moved to the side and watched as his new friend pour something familiar over the fire pit. He sniffed the strange power curiously, remembering the scent somewhere, before Nathaniel motioned for him to back up a bit. Trusting him, Gnar did so and watched as Nathaniel's index finger glow with some sort of energy. Nathaniel carefully touched the dust with his aura coated finger and quickly pulled back, only getting slightly burned from the sudden igniting of the dust. Gnar chattered amazed at the quick creation of the fire, seeing the strange powder do what normally took him a few minutes do in a few mere seconds.

Nathaniel sat back against a sizable rock and watched with a smile as Gnar started bouncing around in excitement. His smile turned into a frown as he looked at his now empty dust container, seeing as now he was without a long range method to protect himself. Gnar stopped when he noticed his friend's frown and him staring at the empty container. He tried to remember where he had smelt that familiar powder before, if only to see if it would make his friend happy. With a snap of his small fingers and a triumphant cry, he bounced away to the back of the cave, disappearing into the darkness.

Nathaniel watched out of the corner of his eye as this happened as he placed the empty container back into his weapon. Metatron seemed almost lifeless now, no longer giving off the red glow and faint hum it had whenever dust was inside the chamber. Nathaniel chuckled at that particular thought, Metatron was a WMD. The thought of it being alive did bring a smile to his face. If it was alive, it would be kinda nice; having someone you have been with for so long and still stick by you through thick and thin right now would indeed be nice.

The familiar chatter of Gnar brought him back to reality where he found a small red crystal on his lap, being placed there by Gnar. Upon seeing it Nathaniel gasped, there was no way it could be what he thought it was. Gnar watched with a smile as Nathaniel held the funny rock up to eye level and channeled that familiar glow into it through his finger, making the crystal glow too and give off a bit of heat. Nathaniel turned to him with a look of disbelief.

"Gnar, where did you find this?" Gnar started tugging on Nathaniel's sleeve for him to follow. Nathaniel rushed to get up and quickly followed the little fuzzball through the cave, no longer being too dark to see anything thanks to Nathaniel's Semblance. Gnar bounced off of several stalagmites to get to where he was going quicker, Nathaniel however had to go around these and ended up falling behind a bit.

"Wait up!" The shout caused the cave to shake a bit making Nathaniel clamp a hand over his mouth, he did not want to destroy Gnar's home and where he would sleep for tonight. After waiting for the cave to stop shaking, Nathaniel used his Semblance to quickly catch up with found the little fuzzball at the end of another cave opening, which he couldn't see through because of some sort of bright light coming from the other side. Gnar went through it and Nathaniel followed after switching his Semblance off. What he saw on the other side…

Was _incredible_.

It was large cavern with blue stone walls, going higher than he could see the roof of it. There were roaring waterfalls with clear sparkling water torrents around the place, creating a large pool around a single island. What truly amazed him was the crystals way bigger than he was glowing different colors brightly. Gnar was bouncing around on the floating island, the only way to get there being an arc bridge that was naturally formed from stone. Nathaniel took the whole place in as he walked across the bridge "This is just…wow, I just can't describe it any better."

Gnar stopped bouncing around and stood next to a large monolith-like crystal that towered way over Nathaniel. His blue tipped ears twitching in excitement at sharing this place with his friend. Upon reaching the monolith crystal, Nathaniel ran his hand along its surface, inspecting the numerous symbols and runes engraved into it as it hummed at his touch.

Gnar let out a curious growl as he heard the crystal hum as well, it never did that before when he touched it, so why did it do so now? Was it because of the strange glowy thing that Nathaniel did with the other crystals?

Feeling curious at how the monolith was humming, Nathaniel channel a bit of his aura through his arm, only to feel it sucked out of him and into the crystal. Nathaniel tried to pull his hand away in shock but he couldn't, his hand was stuck fast to the side the crystal "What the!?" Nathaniel tried harder to remove his hand from the monolith crystal when it started to actively absorb his aura right out of him, causing visible streams of light to come off of his body like his aura was trying to escape the pull only to be sucked into the crystal "Let me go dammit!"

The crystal didn't let up and Nathaniel could feel himself getting weaker and weaker, until he could no longer stand and fell to his knees. Gnar was busy attacking the monolith with his boomerang as fast as he could, his fur getting redder and redder as he repeatedly struck it until the cute fuzzy ball of orange fur was gone and in his place was a little red demon with glowing white eyeholes.

Nathaniel kept his eyes open for a little while longer with what little strength he had. He looked to Gnar to see the little guy trying his best to get the crystal to let go, he wanted to be confused as to why Gnar was turning red but he could feel his strength had finally left him.

As he let himself fall into blissful unconsciousness, Gnar roared out his own name and a large chunk of rock crashed into the monolith, breaking it and sending all of Nathaniel's stolen aura rushing back into his body in a huge pillar-like explosion of white energy that sent the two in the cavern flying. The energy continued to shoot up higher than the cavern could contain, breaking through the roof and into the night sky.

(Location: Unknown)

" **This power…** "

The owner of this feminine voice full of power looked out of her home with purple eyes to watch the large pillar of light in the distance brighten up the sky before it disappeared.

" **I must have it!** "

(Location: Unknown)

In a dark realm, a hooded man cackled.

" ** _Finally…that meddlesome seal is destroyed!_** "

At his words, the world around him grew loud with noise and movement.

" ** _Now nothing will stop us!_** "

(Location: Unknown)

A woman with white hair tied into a ponytail watched from the top of a cliff close to the pillar of light in amazement.

"Incredible…"

All the while, the moon shone brighter behind her, illuminating her strange armour and blade.

(Location: Unknown)

A man wearing regal blue robes looked into a crystal ball, which showed the pillar of light fading away.

"Interesting. Very interesting."

The man yelled out to one of his pupils, which wore less regal robes the same colour he wore "Get me Kayle, tell her it is of the utmost importance!"

(Back in the cavern)

Nathaniel felt his consciousness return as he stumbled to lift himself off the wet rocky floor beneath him. Looking up, his vision blurred for a moment before showing the remains of the cavern clearly. Large rocks filled the area, dropped from a high enough place that they shattered the ground on impact. The crystals, Dust, Nathaniel reminded himself, was scattered around here and there, most of the crystals too damaged to be of any use to anyone. As it all finally came back to him, something he remembered shot him out of his hazy state "Gnar!"

The little fuzzball cried weakly somewhere where the pools once were. Nathaniel stood up feeling no injuries on his person, in fact, he felt even better than before for some reason. When he took a step forward to where he heard Gnar's cries, he burst into light and stumbled across the ground at the sudden change.

Nathaniel reformed with the feeling of pain in his back, like something had just burst out near his shoulder blades. Rolling his shoulders and as he did his best to ignore the state of his jacket and shirt, Nathaniel took another step only to for his Semblance to activate on its own again, this time sending him face first into the rock he heard Gnar behind.

"Ow…"

This was getting a little annoying for him, what was going on with his Semblance? Deciding to play it safe, Nathaniel started to crawl over the rock slowly. He didn't want to end up impaled on a rock by accident, thank you very much. Gnar looked up at his friend weakly from his position on the wet ground. Nathaniel rushed over to his side and picked him up before cradling him "Gnar, are you alright?"

The little guy cried weakly again but nodded before looking around. Nathaniel followed his gaze and felt guilty for the loss of Gnar's home "I'm so sorry."

Nathaniel stood up as Gnar crawled up onto his shoulder. Gnar chattered something that Nathaniel had no idea what it meant, but he could tell Gnar was trying to tell him it wasn't really his fault. Smiling at him, Nathaniel turned around and started looking for whatever Dust he could salvage from this place.

Meanwhile, up above the two, the woman with white hair wearing the strange armour and holding the strange blade watched the Vacuonian intently with her pale silver eyes.

"There you are…"

(END)

 **So, what do you all think?**

 **I mean, is there anything I could have improved on, anything at all?**

 **Anyway, sorry for updating so late again, and I hope you've all enjoyed this chapter. Next one might not be out for a while.**

 **Now, please leave a review for me, I enjoy reading them.**


	3. Good news and bad news

Hi everyone, been awhile huh?

So uh, first things first, we will start off with the bad news.

My computer ended up being factory reset.

All my stories, all the chapters, and drafts, gone.

How?

Someone at the Electronics repair (not naming the place) was fixing several issues I was having with the computer, and the person decided to back everything I had up and factory restore it.

Would be great if they ACTUALLY BACKED IT UP.

The owner apologized and being such a nice guy, didn't charge me for anything, I don't know what happened to the guy they put in place to fix my computer, but I hope they did something at least to punish him. Am i angry? I have every right to be. Am I going to give up, HELL NO!

I am not letting this put me down. Instead, I'm going to open a word doc, and start rebuilding.

I have no idea how long it will take, but I WILL NOT FALTER (invisible cookie for whoever gets that reference)

So, sorry for worrying anyone, and I will immediately get started on rewriting what was lost (mainly the Birth of Corruption rewrite)

(BTW, I also got rid of all the author note chapters across all my stories. Wanted to clean things up a bit)


End file.
